 At about the same time that Villa and Orozco were marching on Ciudad Juárez , the Zapatista revolt gathered strength and spread to the states of Puebla , Tlaxcala , Mexico , Michoacán and Guerrero . On April 14 , Madero had Emiliano Zapata officially designated as his representative in the region . However , Zapata was worried that if he did not fully control all the major towns in Morelos by the time that Madero concluded negotiations with Díaz , the demands of his agrarian movement and the issue of the autonomy of Morelos would be ignored or sidelined . Zapata 's first military action was to take the town of Chinameca where he obtained essential supplies . Subsequently Zapata , for political and strategic reasons , decided to attack the city of Cuautla . In order to mislead his opponents however , he initially attacked and captured the towns of Izúcar de Matamoros ( which was subsequently retaken by federal forces ) and Chietla . From there he made a wide circle around Cuautla and captured Yautepec and Jonacatepec where he gathered more supplies , munitions and soldiers . By May , out of all the major urban centers in the region , only Cuautla and the capital of Morelos , Cuernavaca , remained outside of his control . Zapata began the attack on Cuautla on May 13 with 4000 troops against 400 elite soldiers of the so @-@ called Golden Fifth ; the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Federal Army . The battle took almost a week and has been described as six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution . It consisted of house to house fighting , hand @-@ to @-@ hand combat , and no quarter given by either side . General Victoriano Huerta arrived in nearby Cuernavaca with 600 reinforcements , but decided not to come to the relief of Cuautla as he was afraid that the capital would revolt in his absence . On May 19 , the remains of the  Golden Fifth  pulled out of the town which was then occupied by Zapata 's soldiers . The successful capture of Cuautla made Zapata a hero to ordinary people throughout Mexico and new corridos were written about him . After Zapata 's taking of Cuautla , the federal government controlled only five states and some urban areas . Porfirio Díaz himself later stated that , while he felt that he could defend against Villa and Orozco in Chihuahua , the fall of Cuautla was the event which persuaded him to agree to peace with Madero . fill in the blank  :   At about the same time that Villa and Orozco were marching on Ciudad __________________ , the Zapatista revolt gathered strength and spread to the states of Puebla , Tlaxcala , Mexico , Michoacán and Guerrero . 